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Worst Guitar Center experience ever

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(@stormymonday)
Reputable Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 429
Topic starter  

So yeah, Stormy, if you have no intention what-so-ever of spending money, you're abusing the store. You should be glad they have such a liberal policy when it comes to their guitars.

If I had been sitting there playing a $4,000 Les Paul for an hour straight I could see your point. But, this was literally the very first guitar I picked up and hadn't yet even played it when the guy was bothering me. You have to at least give the person time to play it before you try selling it.

I don't just go into Guitar Center or any other music store with the intent of picking up an expensive guitar and sitting down and playing it for a couple hours as my own practice/performance arena. I'll check out a guitar for a couple minutes and put it back. I've never asked a salesperson to go up the ladder or unlock the glass case to get a guitar I wasn't interested in potentially buying. THAT would be rude on my part and abusing the priviledge.

Most Guitar Centers, etc, have been very nice and seem to want you play their stuff. Again, just don't sit there all day every day.
How "new" is a guitar, that's been played by 200 people? Are you going to accept that instrument or are you going to ask for another, that's still packaged?
The book analogy fits, here, too. Are you going to buy a dog-eared book at full price, even though it's never been sold before (i.e. "new")?

Why would I ask for a packaged guitar if I liked the one I played? I'd walk out with the one I played and liked, not a new in box I hadn't played.


   
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(@ignar-hillstrom)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5349
 

Two stories, one personal:

1) Last year, in Belgium, black people were kicked out of one of Belgium's biggest stores on numerous occasions because the owner didn't want 'that kind of people' as customers. This became a pretty big issue on a few Dutch/Belgian guitar sites. In response to this the owner of the store personally visited these sites, looked at fora, wrote down the mail adress of people being negative about his store and made a 'blackbook'. When one of these persons came into the store to buy a set of strings he was chased away buy the furious owner.

2) Some time ago I went to a local music store. One of the salesmen was playing guitar himself as he apparantly had nothing better to do. So I walked over and asked about a guitar I saw an add about. This guitar, however, was not on display and the salesman had to get it from the storage area. This was obviously too much to ask of him, so he asked if I could wait a few minutes since he was currently enjoying playing a guitar himself. He didn't seem to understand why I walked away.


   
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(@pilot)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 180
 

Why would I ask for a packaged guitar if I liked the one I played? I'd walk out with the one I played and liked, not a new in box I hadn't played.

I'm exactly the same way. With the exception of my Epi LP, every guitar I've bought has been the one I pulled off the wall and played initially. The only reason I took a boxed LP is because the one from the wall had obviously been used a lot and was pretty dinged up.

As far as the pushy salepeople go, it's kind of a hit or miss thing. My advice is to start going in there *more* often, and find someone on the staff that you can talk to and get along with. Let them know you're interested in buying equipment, but that it's a big decision for you and you really need to "play the field" for a while before you commit to anything. If they're at all interested in cultivating a good customer relationship with you, they'll let you take as much time as you need and not be hovering over your shoulder trying to get you to buy something NOW NOW NOW.

I'm on a friendly first-name basis with quite a few of the guys at my local GC, but there are also a few I don't like talking to. In either case, they all know that I'll ask for help when I need it, but if I'm just there to run laps around the store for an hour, then that's what I'm there to do and no amount of sales pressure will make me buy anything.

As always, your mileage may vary. :)


   
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(@jg8804)
Trusted Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 44
 

I work in a music shop over here in the UK. Now we aint pushy but from the salespersons point of view theres nothing worse than someone who comes in just to play with no intention of buying, especially those who just take the guitars off the hangers themselves and start playing.

The idea of a shop is to buy, not to pass time away.

Mind you, i can say that as i work in one therefore can play the guitars when i want, does suck not being able to but then ah well :D


   
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(@teleplayer324)
Noble Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 1506
 

I related this awhile ago over in the Other Side about GC and why I won't shop there.
Went in with my wife she was buying a new guitar NOT me. I wandered off to allow her to select what she wanted to try without me making suggestions as to what I thought she might like, but staying in sight in case she wanted to ask me anything.

She stood for 15 minutes or more as 3 salespeople walked right past her, she tried to stop all 3 to ask them to get her down a guitar she couldn't reach. Not one could be bothered stopping to help a woman but all 3 made a beeline for me wanting to show me stuff. The attitude there of woman not being "serious" players pissed me off. Have never set foot in one since.

Immature? Of course I'm immature Einstein, I'm 50 and in a Rock and ROll band.

New Band site http://www.myspace.com/guidedbymonkeys


   
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(@the-dali)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1409
 

This is a great thread!

I've been to my local GC about 15 times, and I've bought two guitars off them, and some other stuff. Most of the time I just browse, but every so often I find something I want.

Interesting... at GC you NEVER have to ask to play something. The only time you need to, is when a guitar is too high up to grab. I find it interesting that you all find it appalling that people just plug in and start playing. I've NEVER seen or heard of people going to GC and asking permission to play. Now, the story is very different if you go to a local guitar shop. I don't even TOUCH a guitar without permission.

The appeal of GC is that you can grab and play guitars. I can get the same deal for the guiter online, the way a place like GC can stay in business is allowing people to test the guitars out.

Now, I don't condone playing for 5 hours a week, but surely walking around and playing once in a while for an hour is no big deal?

Also - regarding the books. You can go into any of the major book chains in the USA and grab a book or magazine, grab a coffee and read. I don't think the owners care one way or another. Part of the appeal for these large book stores is the laid-back atmosphere.

-=- Steve

"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"


   
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(@banre)
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Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 414
 

My local GC is very good, it seems. I go in pretty much at least once a week on my lunch break. Hang out. Talk to some of the guys that work there, play some different guitars. No one minds at all.

I think allowing that sort of customer is a good thing. One day, I'm going to walk out with a guitar. Maybe not today, or tomorrow. In the meantime, I almost always pick up something: pics, magazine, strings, something. It creates traffic through the store. You can't sell if you don't get people in...allowing people like me to play an hour a week creates that traffic.

Unseen Evidence
UE Reverb Nation Page


   
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 cnev
(@cnev)
Famed Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4459
 

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, I've gone to Guitar center many times and tried guitars, and I've never asked.

GC puts those guitars in easy reach for people to play. It's part of the way they market the merchandise. They do such a high volume it's no big deal for them to put up guitars even if they were to get dinged or scratched, they can just sell it at a reduced price, probably still more than they paid for it.

Put it this way, they know that you ain't gonna buy a guitar that you haven't played so if they make it easy for you to try different guitars then there's a much better chance you'll end up buying something even if you didn't go in there to do that.

But as a consumer if you go in there and start playing with the merchandise, be prepared to get annoyed by a salesman, it's their job. That's part of the deal, you play the guitar they send a salesman over to pester you. If you don't want anyone bothering you then don't touch the guitars.

I have to disagree with everyone's analogy to restaurants and bookstores etc. That's not even close to the same thing.

I've had more experiences similar to teleplayer than they other way. Sometimes I have to hunt for someone to wait on me at GC.

"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!


   
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(@simonhome-co-uk)
Prominent Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 677
 

haha sounds like that despirate salesman outta The Simpsons! Whats he called? Gil? :lol:


   
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(@oktay)
Reputable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 345
 

I was visiting Rondo Music a few months ago. I wanted to look at the agile tele clone they have but couldn't find one in the store so I asked if they had one. This sales guy was nice enough to go to the back of the store and bring one out. Trouble is, it was still in the box. So I had to tell him that I wasn't really looking to buy the guitar today and would understand if he didn't want to go through all the trouble with opening the box and cleaning it up and everything. He said he pretty much figured I wasn't going to buy anything when he saw me walk in with a motorcycle helmet :)

When it's time to buy a guitar, that's one of the first places I'm going to remember. That's exactly why places like Guitar Center allow you to play the instruments without having to buy anything. Although a lot of people mentioned walking into a bookstore and reading a book there without buying and how this is like "stealing", places like Barnes and Noble base their business on this idea. You might have read a whole book, but chances are you'll buy something, if only a cup of coffee and that's worth it for the store since you're not consuming the book. Same goes for sampling a music CD, or taking a test drive at a car dealership.

I must also note that this is the way things are done in the USA. I just came back from a week in Turkey and guitar stores there are a lot smaller and carry a lot less inventory. If you want to play a guitar, you have to ask if it's OK, which is fine.

oktay


   
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(@u2bono269)
Noble Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 1167
 

I had a similar experience in the GC Pro Audio, as some may remember me ranting about last summer.

I wanted to buy a cheap PC recording software. that's it. I wasn't looking to spend more than $50, something I could fiddle with and record myself practicing. maybe with some cheesy features I could mess with and have fun with. So I asked the person behind the counter for exactly that.

Well, he tried to sell me $500 recording studio for my PC. I said no and told him what I wanted the software for. He laughed at me. Literally. Then he called some other people over and was like "hey check this guy out...he doesn't want to actually record real CDs...just for practice hahahaha"...then he goes yeah, you say that now, but in a month you'll be happy you paid for this one (the $500 one). no one wants to just practice.

I said no thanks, what else you got? To which he replied something like "i'm not even gonna show you anything else cos it's not as good as this studio. think about it." so i left, sent GC a nice email about it and that's that. I've never walked in Pro Audio again.

http://www.brianbetteridge.com


   
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(@wes-inman)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5582
 

Wow, this is a good thread.

I have to speak up a little for salespeople. I was a salesman for many years. And just like any other trade, it takes time and experience to learn to be a good salesperson.

What I learned from being a salesperson is that if you sincerely try to help the customer get what they want, you will get the sale. Also, every customer is different. Some people want to be left alone and look for themselves, while others want to ask many questions and want much assistance. So you have to learn to size up customers very quickly.

I did learn very early that is does not do any good to push. People do not enjoy that. They will leave and never return. Or, if they happen to return they will avoid you and look for some other salesperson.

I do not think you should just walk in and pick up a guitar and play it if you have no intention of buying someday. If you are saving your money and it will be a month before you are ready to buy, and you are sincerely looking at different guitars or amps, that is one thing. But if you are just going in to bang around that is not cool at all. Everytime someone plays a guitar it gets dinged up a little. Would you spend $1000 on a guitar with belt buckle scratches all over the back? I sure wouldn't. So, if you scratch that guitar up, they may not be able to sell it.

Lastly, I will say this about salespeople. Salespeople make the world go 'round. Your standard of living would be much lower without salespeople. You would not have Fender or Marshall amps at your music store if a salesperson did not go there to push his product first. And yeah, salespeople can be a little pushy sometimes. But they move product which means many people will have jobs because a saleman is out there getting that product sold. I don't care who you are and what you do for a living, there is a saleman out there taking lots of abuse to make sure your product is sold and that you have a job next week.

Now think about that.

If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis


   
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(@ghost)
Prominent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 815
 

I haven't been to a Guitar Center, but I've had a bad experience at a local store *cough* Miller Music *cough.* I was trying out a Dean guitar, because I was looking at buying one before I got my Gibson Flying V. Well the idiot owner turned off the amp and took the guitar out of my hands. :evil: I think he also said to me that he had "paying customers" looking at a guitar, well the one I was playing no less. One of the employees was also trying to sell me an amp that was twice as much as I wanted to pay for an amp, which I told him. Pushy and stupid. Makes me sick.

These days Miller Music is SOL. Everytime I walk by that place my blood boils. I've bought at the shop next door (Todd's Guitars Etc.) 5 guitars, an amp, and the rest of my gear there. Everyone is real nice there to, very helpful.
I do not think you should just walk in and pick up a guitar and play it if you have no intention of buying someday. If you are saving your money and it will be a month before you are ready to buy, and you are sincerely looking at different guitars or amps, that is one thing. But if you are just going in to bang around that is not cool at all. Everytime someone plays a guitar it gets dinged up a little. Would you spend $1000 on a guitar with belt buckle scratches all over the back? I sure wouldn't. So, if you scratch that guitar up, they may not be able to sell it.

I couldn't agree with you more. Todd's Guitars Etc. had to put signs on some of the guitars because of some jokers messing with guitars and putting dings on them. That can actually hurt a business by damaging the merchandise.

"If I had a time machine, I'd go back and tell me to practise that bloody guitar!" -Vic Lewis

Everything is 42..... again.


   
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(@the-dali)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1409
 

I do not think you should just walk in and pick up a guitar and play it if you have no intention of buying someday. If you are saving your money and it will be a month before you are ready to buy, and you are sincerely looking at different guitars or amps, that is one thing. But if you are just going in to bang around that is not cool at all. Everytime someone plays a guitar it gets dinged up a little. Would you spend $1000 on a guitar with belt buckle scratches all over the back? I sure wouldn't. So, if you scratch that guitar up, they may not be able to sell it.

Wes, interesting that you should say that. I think the exact opposite. You are in a guitar store because you are a guitar player. While you might be just killing time and playing various guitars for fun, the chances are that you are going to buy a guitar at some point in time. In fact, I'll bet that many guitar sales are "spur of the moment" type sales (see, Rocker) and allowing the customers to pick up any guitar and play probably results in more sales than people realize.

Case in point... I was out drinking at happy hour with a guitar buddy of mine and we decided to hit Guitar Center before we went to see a band play. We were walking around and playing random guitars and I found a 1983 Guild S-280 in fire engine red. Great little guitar with a Kahler tremolo and EMG pickups. Very 80's (of course, this was in 2002) shred machine. I played it a bit and loved the fretboard. I ended up buying it. I had NO INTENTIONS at all of buying anything, but the price was right and I bought it. If GC hadn't let me play around they wouldn't have made that sale.

And in terms of guitars being "damaged" while played. Yes, that occurs, but that is the nature of retail. Any store has to deal with damaged merchandise, whether it is guitars, books, car, clothing, etc. I don't think it's that big of a deal. And let's face it, the expensive guitars are hanging up high or behind the counter. You MIGHT be able to grab a $1000 guitar, but the $1000+ are usually out of reach.

-=- Steve

"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"


   
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(@sapho)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 133
 

I'm for the poor sucker customer-to-be and deeply disappointed in the self-righteous tone taken by GN leadership's comments here. I expected more solidarity on this sensitive subject.

Being a guitarist, vocalist, composer, arranger is hard enough without the added stress of the commercial hawkishness of 'instrument store attitude.'

And we all know well enough that dreaded 'attitude' of a frustrated musician salesman.

It's a terrible feeling to endure and for a sensitive artist in need of counsel on quality instruments suited to his/her style/genre the pain and anguish of 'shopping' is amplified to the max. That 'salesman' hasn't watched us perform over the past few years and hasn't a clue what we're into and what we're about.

A musician doesn't have an 'agent' like an actor. A musician has a 'manager' or 'label' with all that entails if they're not indie and going it 'solo.'
Perhaps the manager or label company alleviates some of the pressure on a musician buying a new instrument. I'm not sure how that works. Can't imagine Eric Clapton or Neil Young having any trouble buying a guitar.

A musician has so many worries already with seeking good collaborating recording studios, promo/distrib, A & R rep, live performing, setting up gigs and coping with venues' acoustic imperfections etc. the hassle of buying an instrument that becomes our best friend should be a delightful experience and the least of our worries.

Where's the connection between music stores and professional musicians? What are they doing to alleviate the sales pressure on musicians?

In the most popular music store in my city I recall being so frustrated by the ignorance of the staff that I demanded to speak with the manager. I gave him my card and left. I won't do business there but what do they care?

You guys who can buy so many different guitars and gear are daring and maybe hard-shelled and maybe you have the money to lose on regretful purchases but for many of us it isn't easy to take on a new instrument at all let alone buy under pressure and then find out a week later that it's not suitable or poor quality.

Of course we don't have the whole picture of Stormy from Orlando's incident as every individual and situation is different but he confided a difficult situation to GN trusting in a fair and objective response.

I'd say he deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Portamento - The ability to move from a wrong note to the right one without anyone noticing the original mistake.
Harmonics - The buzzing sound that string instruments make.
Impromptu - A carefully worked out composition.


   
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